The murder of Hamas' spiritual leader, Sheik Yassin, makes perfect sense as long as you understand Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's strategy. That strategy is to make peace impossible. For three years, Sharon has done everything to prevent peace. He himself...
A Pride of Wrong Answers
You might think, if only for the sake of increasing the entertainment value if not for the perhaps more worthy goal of getting a wider array of viewpoints, that they would include a wild card or two on some of these dreary government commissions especially on...
The Media Politics of 9/11
For 30 months, 9/11 was a huge political blessing for George W. Bush. This week, the media halo fell off. Within the space of a few days, culminating with his testimony to the Sept. 11 commission Wednesday afternoon, former counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke did...
The Main Danger to Peace
Where are the weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East? Ask Mordechai Vanunu. He knows, all too well. On March 24, 1988, Vanunu was convicted of treason by an Israeli court for revealing the existence of Israel's secret nuclear arsenal at the Dimona facility,...
Clarke Smeared by Neocon Slime Machine
Dick Clarke's testimony before the 9/11 Commission turned into a political ping pong match, with John Lehman, former secretary of the navy, insisting that Clarke has a "real credibility problem." I read Clarke's book while traveling the past couple of days, and found...
To the Garbage Cleaners Go the Spoils
In 1991, the U.S. imposed an arms embargo on Haiti, which included the police force. Now the Haitian police chief is reasonably concerned that the police will not be able to control the extremely turbulent situation in that country without adequate weaponry. And in...
Rummaging Through the Ashes
Last week's organized campaign of ethnic violence aimed at Kosovo's Serbs petered off Saturday, with the arrival of NATO reinforcements and announcements they were prepared to shoot to kill. Diplomatic and media attacks continued, though, and the spin machine honed...
Australia Must Follow Washington
The events in Madrid should be proof enough that Australia has no choice but to follow Washington George Washington, that is. In 1796, George Washington penned his farewell address in which he expressed what was known as the "Golden Rule" of American foreign...
Was It All Planned? Iraq and Empire-Builders
"It all began when the Berlin Wall came down in November 1989, effectively ending the Cold War and prompting the Pentagon to undertake a search for a new set of principles, in part to prevent Congress, then controlled by the Democrats, from slashing the defense...
Pakistan’s Reward Could Turn Into Liability
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's major surprise this week making Pakistan a major non-North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) ally of Washington was greeted with enthusiasm in Islamabad, but with stony silence here in New Delhi. Pakistani Foreign...


